A trade deal between the EU and the US risks opening the backdoor for the expansion of fracking in Europe and the US, reveals a new report released today [1]. As part of the deal currently being negotiated, energy companies could be allowed to take governments to private arbitrators if they attempt to regulate or ban fracking and the dangerous exploitation of unconventional fossil fuels. Campaigners are urging the EU not to include such rights in trade deals. Continue reading →

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Brussels office) has posted a critical briefing on TTIP for the general reader. The Foundation is printing 5,000 copies to give out for wide public dissemination, and also producing versions of the report in five other European languages too; many thanks to Klaus and Roland for that! Continue reading →

The European Parliament will be voting on March 12 (actually in the middle of the week of the 4th round of TTIP negotiations) on whether TTIP should be suspended till the US amends its surveillance laws. Continue reading →

We invite our friends all over the world to join our struggle against the criminalisation of homelessness in Hungary. The 2010 election brought a comprehensive authoritarian and punitive turn in Hungary: constitutional democracy was essentially abolished; labour rights were curtailed; entitlement to welfare benefits was restricted and a harsh workfare regime was implemented; asylum-seekers became subject to an unjustifiable detention regime; increasingly severe penal policies were introduced with disproportionate sanctions; the surveillance of state employees was authorised on an unprecedented scale. Since the transition to capitalism in 1990, the poverty rate and the level of income inequality have never been as high as now. Continue reading →

You can read a short update on TTIP negotiations on financial regulatory framework. The full newsletter is downloadable here. The US still fears that its financial reform will be weakened if TTIP creates a regulatory framework on financial services. Indeed, … Continue reading →